For a century and a half, visitors have flocked to the Mt. Washington Valley to take advantage of the area's natural beauty. In 1850, artist Benjamin Champney came to the valley, paid $3.50 a week to stay at the Kersarge Tavern, and began to paint his rugged, true-to-life landscapes. The area became an artist's mecca, with the valley a favorite destination point for artists and their followers. Later, urbanites to the south fled hot and humid summers to stretch their legs and bodies in the natural, unspoiled environment that has become the 780,000-acre White Mountains National Forest. This heritage has created lodging choices not often found in such a concentrated area. You can stay someplace different every time you visit the valley and still have a lifetime of unique lodging choices for your next visit.

Resorts offer all the usual amenities -- swimming pools, hot tubs, golf courses, and tennis courts, and additionally offer the ambience of a country vacation amid some of the most comely scenery in the east. This is a land where Grand Hotels have been lovingly restored; a place where historic architectural detailing is at home with all the comforts associated with multi-starred accommodations.

Bed and Breakfast Country Inns

Country inns and bed & breakfasts were the earliest form of hospitality in the valley. They welcomed travelers when there were no Grand Hotels or clapboard taverns. Today, many stately older homes, expanded farmhouses, country homesteads, and historic townhouses have found new life as B&Bs and country inns. Often these properties are filled with New England antiques, and all reflect the personality and charm of the innkeepers. From small to grand, they are a way of life, one that you can share over a cup of coffee or tea with other valley visitors. Reasonable prices and comfortable accommodations characterize the valley's multitude of motels, lodges, and cottages. Whether you're steps from bustling Route 16 or on a back road in one of the villages, cozy efficiencies and cottages offer your family an informal atmosphere where they can relax.

Condominiums offer expansive living areas, including fully appointed kitchens and a laundry just steps away. There's a special home-away-from-home feeling where families can congregate after a day's outing and just relax. Prop up those feet, tear open those outlet store shopping bags, and compare those special finds and their unbelievable prices.

Stay on a beach by the river, hide deep in the forest, pitch your tent within the sound of a rushing stream, or put it all together in one of the valley's campsites and RV parks. Here's a chance to treat the kids to the camping skills and simple fun you had as a kid. And just think: 780,000 acres of unspoiled wilderness await you just beyond that tent flap.

When it comes to comfortable county hospitality, the residents of the Mt. Washington Valley know. After all, they've been doing it for 150 years.